Water exhaust box



Aprii 29, 1924.V 1,492,276

A. R. THOMPSON WATER EXHAUST BOX Filed May 16. 1923 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 pril 29 1924.

1,492,276 A. R. THOMPSON WATER EXHAUST BOX Filed May le. 192s s sheets-sheet s Patented pr.. 29, 1924..

UNITED STATES 1,492,216 PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT R. THOMPSON,` F SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO ANDERSON-BARN- GROVER MFG. C0., 0F SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION OF CALIFORNIA.

WATER EXHAUST BOX.

Application led May 16,

To all whom t may concer/n:

Be it known that I, ALBERT R. THOMPSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at San Jose, in the county of Santa Clara and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Water Exhaust Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to those machines used in the canning art, which from their function of partially expelling the air content from the filled and still open containers, are known as exhaust-boxes. In these machines a continuous procession of cans moves l@ through a heated chamber in a path of sufficient length to subject the goods for the time required for the first cook, as the exhaust process is usually called; and in order to make this extensive path consistent with economy in floor space it is usual to direct it in various forms of tortuous or to and fro courses throughout a relatively capacious chamber.

The heat for the box is generally supplied by steam either admitted directly or as a means for heating the air; but in some machines which are found for various reasons to have special advantages, the heating medium is water the temperature of which is derived from any suitable'source, as, for example, steam coils. Such machines are termed water exhaust-boxes, and in them the cans areimmersed in the hot water to a predetermined depth and carried through the water at that depth.

My present invention concerns this water type of exhaust-box. Its object is to provide means for the entrance ofv the can procession'to the required depth' of immersion in the. heated water, and its delivery therefrom, said means being in such relation to the extensive path through which the procession passes, that they do not materially detract from the extent of said path, nor from the maximum capacity of the box con? sistent with minimum floor space.

To this end my invention consists in the novel water exhausty box which I shall now f fully describe by reference to the accompanying drawings, in whichp Fig. 1 is atop plan view of my box the cover being removed.

Fig. 2..is a longitudinal vertical section of the box, taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1. @5 Fig.'3 is across section, on the line 3-3 192s. serial no. 639,439.

of Fig. 2, the disks of the entrance and delivery sections of the conveyer being omitted.

Fig. 4C is a top plan, broken, showing a modification of the box with respect to the 00 location of the entrance and the delivery. sections of the can path.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Before describing the drawings in detail it must be understood that my invention is not in its broad sense coniined to any particular form or type of conveyer which carries the can procession through its path. Such conveyers are of many kinds. lThe form I have herein shown for the sake of illustration is a common one, and is known as the disk-type of conveyer. It comprises a plurality of revoluble juxtaposed disks, with overlying directional guides by which the cans resting on the disks are moved to land over successive disks from their entrance to the box to their discharge. This type of conveyer, I have, however, found to be specially applicable to my present invention in that while giving a maximum can capacity consistent with floor space, it lends itself admirably to the economic can entrance and discharge, which I seek to attain.

1 is the tank or shell of the exhaust box having a can-inlet at 2 and a can-outlet at 3, as shown in Fig.v 1.

In the tank is contained a body of heated water, the level of which' is indicated by 9 fw-fw in Fig. 2 and in Fig. 3. Referring to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the box is substantially filled to its capacity with the main body of the conveyer disks 4 arranged in the parallel rows A, B, C,'each row being pref- 95 erably a double line, with the directional guides 5 adapted to lead the cans from one disk in one line of the row to the next disk i the other line of said row and back to the next disk in the first line and so on. At the 10 end of each double line row, are transfer disks6 connecting the rows. -Thus in theY box and filling practically its capacity, the can path, as seen in Fig. 1, leads from the right hand end of double line row A, over 10| said row to its left hand end, thence over the transfer disks 6 to the left hand end of row B, and tothe right over said row and thence -v back to the left over row C. All these disks are in the same horizontal plane, and are far 11 by the can designated by 7 at the left hand end of Fig. 2.

The entrance section of the can path leads from the inlet opening 2 of the box, Fig. 1. It consists preferably of the single line row of disks 8 with their directional guides 9. If the box is a short one, this entrance Section may incline downwardly' for the full length of the box to its terminal where it joins by means of the transfer disks 10 the first dou'ble line row A of the main portion of the can path, whereby sutlicient length is provided to make the down grade at a small enough angle to avoid any spilling of the can contents; but when the box is a longer one, the grade of the entrance section may safely 'terminate at about the transverse middle of the box, where it reaches the level of the main path disks 4, as seen in Fig. 2, and its remaining portion then continues at this level.

The arrangement of the delivery section of the can path is opposite to that of the entrance section. As shown in Fig. 1, the delivery section is preferably a'single line row of disks l1 with directional guides 12,

Ywhich joins by means of the transfer disks 13 the double line row C of the main portion of the can path at the left hand end, and 'thence continues to the right on the samelevel as the disks of row C, to the transverse middle of th'e box, from which point, as shown in Fig. 2, it proceeds on an up-grade to the outlet 3 of the box.

It will now be seen that a can entering the boxyat inlet V2, Fig. 1, will pass down over fthe inclined disks 8 to the cross median line of the box, asin Fi .2, at which point it will `be submerged in t e hot water to the predetermined depth. Thence it will travel at said depth to the first double line row A, and at -the same depth will advance through the water back and forth successively over rows A, .B and C, and then enter on the deliverydisks 11. On these at the same depth it will advance to the middle of the box and from there will gradually rise to the outlet 3.

In Fig. 3I have indicated an overhead drive for the conveyer`disks of substantially the nature of the underlying drive common in this type of disk exhaust boxes, the change from below to above being desirable, since the, tank contains water, which might otherwise be subjected to leakage.

This driving mechanism' comprises the power shaft 14 with its bevel pinions 15,

the vertical shafts 16 with their bevelgears of the box. This, however, is not essential,

for as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, they ma be disposed at the ends of the box. In t ese Figs. 4 and 5, the parts being identical, are designated by similar numerals but what has been previously said about the .entrance and delivery sections possibly extending for their full length on a gradient when the .distance is relatively short, is here Well illustrated, said sections being shown in\ Fig. 5 on an incline forA ltheir the ends of the box are short.

It will now be seen that in a water exhaust box, such as herein described, there is an extensive can path lling the treating chamber to its capacity, the inleading and outleading sec-tions of the path forming an intimate part thereof, but so disposed as to occupy the least space, and by leading the cans into and out of the water in a minimum of distance and time said sections perform their function without detractingl from the necessary function of the main body of the path with respect to time of treatment, length of path and size of box.

I claim A water exhaust-box comprising a hotwater-containing tank having a can inlet and a can outlet both `above the level of the water; a main can-conveyer within the box and substantially Yfilling its capacity, said conveyer consisting of revoluble juxtaposed disks with overlying directional guides, and arranged in a plurality of end connected rows, to carry the cans in a to and fro course through rthe water; an entrance can-conveyer within the tank disposed on one border of the main conveyer and consisting of revoluble, juxtaposed disks with directional guides, said entrance conveyer leading from the tank inlet on a down grade to the level of and joining one end of the main conveyer; and a delivery conveyer within the tank eonsistin of revoluble juxtaposedV disks with dlrectional guides, said conveyer joining the other end of the main conveyer and leading along the opposite border of said mainy conveyer on an up grade to the tank outlet.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this s eciicartion.

ABBERT R. THOMPSON.

full length, since 

